Dutch Barn On It's Way

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Work & Play
A few things I failed to mention in the summary:
We went and saw Madagascar on Friday afternoon with the boys and Grandma and Marcos. I took a long lunch break in the middle of the day to go and see it. Loved the movie, thought it was very funny. Go see it, the end. I also got off early (4:00). Since it was Memorial day weekend, everybody else was out of the office about 3:00, and then Jim decided we should go home too.

Saturday Shena had a wedding shower to go to for Kristi Yow, which meant the boys and I were on our own. We decided to go to Costco to get some frozen stuff to put into the freezer. Before I left, Shena warned me not to buy those Cheesecake Factory Cheesecakes again...she didn't like that it cost $14. I was tempted to get it just to bug her, but decided not to. I should have. When I got home she said "I thought you'd buy it anyway." I'll have to be sure to get some next time we are there. The boys were great, though. Behaved themselves very well. We saw Plummer's as we walked into the store...and of course got invited over that night.

I had a sneaking suspicion that Dutch Barns would call sometime this week to deliver the storage shed. The salesman told me that it would be 4 weeks, but I thought he was just giving them extra time in case. You know "under promise, over deliver." So they called today to set up the delivery. They should be here tomorrow between 2 and 4. Said they would call me on my cell just before they left the shop so that I could meet them at the house, which was nice. I didn't have to sit there from 2 to 4 not knowing how long it would be until they got there. Excited to get it put in...silly, isn't it? I must be getting old.

We also got Time Warner (internet) called so that they could come out and get the cable jack hooked up to their lines. They will also be here tomorrow...sometime between 7 and 10. Bigger window, and they don't bother to let you know they are on there way...you just better be there. Shena is supposed to come into the office, so I guess mom will have to sit at our house to watch the boys instead of them going over to her house.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
Didn't do much tonight, but shoot hoops and wrestle with the boys. They seem to go to bed easier when I spend some time playing with them. I just tell them "we'll for a few minutes, then it's time for bed, you got it?" They don't seem to mind when I tell them it is time.

Arellano Update
Shena talked to Marcos for a minute this afternoon. He called to get directions down to Grace from Pocatello. Pretty sad, but he was lost in that little town. Didn't know how to get to the highway. I guess I have been out there enough to know how to get around...I don't know that he has ever driven out there, so I guess it is excusable. Said he was going to go down and play some golf while he had a chance.

Christensen Update
None to report that I know of.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 10:15 - 6:30 - this week I'm really going to do it...6:30, every morning

TODAY:
Breakfast: 1 bowl of frosted mini-wheats

Lunch: None - Shena and I were having a disagreement during my lunch break, which caused me to not want to eat. Not her fault, mine.

Dinner: Costco frozen food stuffs...Chicken teriyaki and white rice, brocoli, carrots...ok for frozen food, but not great. Shena liked it ok, but I didn't necessarily. I was still a little hungry after the teriyaki, so I had a couple pieces of wheat toast with butter and strawberry jam with milk. Shena wanted an ice cream sundae from McDonald's, so when I went to get it I also got me an Oreo McFlurry.

Summary & Memorial Day Relaxation

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Work & Play
A quick summary of this weekend...since my internet was down:

Friday: We got our final inspection done, which meant we could start moving in. Marcos and I moved all the big stuff that we wanted moved from the old office into the new office. We also went over to Teresa & Munsey's to get their old desk and two book shelves they didn't want anymore. The bookshelves were easy...the desk was a huge pain in the butt. They let us borrow their Odyssey to transport the stuff, and we had mom's car, so we got it all in one trip. The hardest part was getting the desk down the stairs in Slack's house. It took Marcos Munsey and I with a little help from Teresa to get it down. But just Marcos and I were able to get it into the house.

Saturday: Got up early and continued moving things into the addition. Got Bart's old recliner back from mom's , where it had been for the last year or two because we ran out of room for it here. We put it in the office, and it winds up sitting just below one of the flood lights, so it is a good spot for reading. We checked out blinds last night, but couldn't come to a decision, so not sure when that will get done. We can't decide if we want to go for the big wide faux wood ones, or just get the kind we have on the rest of the house (1" vinyl). That should be more of a decision for Shena, but for some dumb reason I'm sticking my nose in it. Wound up spending the afternoon with Marcos over at the Plummer's playing pool and wiffle ball. Marcos and I put a dent in their bat and broke one of their balls. Probably the last time we'll be invited over there.

Sunday: Church. Cade gave his first talk in Primary. Since Monday was Memorial Day, we wrote a quick one about that. He took these "Military Bears" that my mom has. They are teddy bears with sweaters that show the branch of the military with a place for a picture in them. She has three. One for my Uncle Marvin, Uncle Wayne and of course, one for Adam. Cade took the one of Uncle Wayne and Tio Adam and showed everybody their pictures and said they were soldiers who promised to protect our freedoms. Actually, Cade said about three lines. "This is my Uncle Wayne. This is my Tio Adam...Amen." Shena filled in the rest in the middle. He did ok, though. After Church we ate at mom's, took naps, then went over to Hiatt's for a graduation get together for Kate. She is the last of the "Idaho Kids" who graduated from High School. Kind of weird to think about that. Seems not so long ago that I was the first one to graduate and everybody was excited. You could tell the parents were a little more subdued about this one, which is understandable. But they are milestones in life that get passed. Good news is life goes on and there are more milestones ahead.

Monday:
Played golf with an 8:06 tee time at Dawn Acres with Ed and Dede. Ed and I had been talking for a while about going, we (well, not necessarily me, I think it was more Shena and Ed teaming up) talked Dede into going. She had only been one other time in her life and she said she didn't like it because she didn't think she was any good. She did great, though. She played much better than I ever did my first and second time. Hard part is getting her to recognize that she did well considering. Apparently she promised Ed she would try it 10 times, then she was free to quit after that and never play again if she wanted to. I think by the tenth time she will like it more. We had a good time, though.

After golf, we came home to get the boys and got ready to go over to Plummer's for hamburgers. I called one of the construction crew to come over and "settle up" on the rest of the money we owed them since the inspections are done. I will explain in a later post about the whole fiasco we have been through. I have purposely kept it mostly quiet because we didn't know how it would turn out...but it turned out ok in the end, so I'm ready to tell the story...just not right now.

Mom came with us over to Plummers. Marcos left for Idaho last night, so she is on her own for who knows how long. She watched the boys this morning while we golfed. Jimmy Adams from the ward was also over at Plummer's. It was good talking to him. We have some similar backgrounds (he served his mission in Portland, OR, like me, and works for Jefferson Pilot), but he is about 10 times smarter than I am. Nice guy though. He, Ed and I played pool most of the afternoon.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
Kelson and Cade were good boys. They spent part of the afternoon in the Plummer's blow up swimming pool. Wore themselves out, though. Mid-afternoon, Kelson was a walking zombie he was so tired, but there was so much going on that he wouldn't lay down and sleep. He finally couldn't fight it anymore and layed down next to the pool table with a pen in his hand. He got mad and woke up when I tried to take it from him. I think he was still fighting going to sleep.

Arellano Update
Already reported above.

Christensen Update
None to report that I know of.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 12:00 - 6:30 - Had to be up early...tee time was at 8:06 in Stokesdale (1/2 hour drive)

TODAY:
Breakfast: had a nasty country ham on a roll sandwich thing they had in the pro-shop...not good at all, but I was starving, so I ate it.

Lunch: had a late lunch after golf and settling up with the construction crew - cheeseburger with lettuce, ketchup, mustard, miracle whip on a sesame seed bun, potato salad, plain Lay's chips, coke...had a piece of Jimmy's wife's home made brownies a while later with water

Dinner: ate 2 Bagel Bites that we fixed for the boys for dinner at 9:00 tonight...then had a few Chips Ahoy cookies and milk before bed.

99.99999% Done

***Text in this color authored by Shena***

Work & Play
Well...maybe not that close, but the HVAC inspector finally showed up today...and passed us this time. That means we have one inspection left, which is SUPPOSED to happen tomorrow, which would be nice, (then we'd have the weekend to move in) but I'm not counting on it. Now I'm going to be wishing my storage shed would hurry and show up, but that is another week and half away (at least). Oh well, it can't all happen at once.

Nothing exciting happened after work today. I was supposed to go to Elder's Quorum meeting, but Shena said she would appreciate some help with the boys and around the house because she wasn't feeling well. I wimped out on making dinner, though. I went the easiest route I could think of, which was sandwiches. Picked up the house, emptied the West Wing and cleared off the deck for the inspection (don't want them to fail us just because we have a basketball hoop in the room), then went outside and finished clearing the mulch from the spot of land where I want the storage shed to go (just in case they happen to call in the next couple of days saying it is ready to be delivered). I also sprayed RoundUp everywhere I saw green leafy things on the ground. I'm trying to kill all the poison ivy and oak...and since I don't know what it looks like very well (especially when it is just sprouting out of the ground) I was spraying everything.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
The boys were a little bit better today. Shena said Cade was really good...but Kelson still had his moments. Better than both of them being poops, I guess.

Arellano Update
None to report that I know of. Mom watched the boys for part of the afternoon while Shena taught piano lessons...otherwise I still haven't seen or spoken to anybody since Monday night.

Christensen Update
None to report that I know of.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 11:30 - 7:00 - whoops...did I say I was going to get up at 6:30? I was just kidding.

TODAY:
Breakfast: none

Lunch: Egg sandwich with cheese on toasted wheat bread...which wasn't enough, so I made myself a peanut butter and strawberry freezer jam sandwich on wheat too...both with milk. Had one "chocolate chip creme sandwich" cookie by Little Debbie. Not very good, but I bought them, so I've got to eat them now.

Dinner: As mentioned earlier, I was in charge of dinner...and I didn't want to eat out, but I didn't feel like getting a bunch of dishes dirty, so we had tuna sandwiches. Mine was on wheat with cheese and lettuce, some Lays cheddar and sour cream chips, A&W. Just before bed I had a couple of E.L. Fudges.

"Lost" Season Finale

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Work & Play
And the addition fiasco continues...inspector never showed up today. We now have a promise that he will show up first thing tomorrow morning. I'm not going to believe it until I see it. Shena has been saying for a couple weeks that we wouldn't be in the room until July 4th...I argued with her about that...but I'm starting to believe it. Can't wait until this whole thing is over.

After work we just had dinner, sent the boys to bed early (see Llano Update) and watched the season finale of "Lost." I loved it. I browsed the Lost message board after the show, and there were some people complaining about how the finale didn't give them any answers and they were mad and they were going to quit watching. Whatever. That is what this show has been all about from the beginning. It doesn't completely answer questions. It gives you little piece by little piece. And for every answer it gives, it creates more questions. As an example: Answer: yes, they can open the hatch door (finally). Questions: Why is the ladder broken? How far down does the entrance go? Why were "the numbers" on the hatch? Who is going to go in first? Why did Locke ignore Hurley screaming at him to not open it? etc, etc. I think people fail to realize that this wasn't the end of the SERIES...just the season. If they answer all the questions and don't leave you with a cliffhanger, what will bring you back next year? I wonder how many people were mad at the Friends season finale when Ross said "I take you, Rachel..." (instead of Emily, who he was marrying). That is how the season ended. With a question! People wanted to know if he would really go through with the marriage. Did they answer that in the finale? No. They created more questions. Anyway...that is my rant for today. I didn't really have anything else to talk about. Had to fill the empty space somehow, right?

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
Bad, bad day for the boys. All I got were bad reports from Shena. She says that after I walk out the door in the morning they start misbehaving. She said they fought a lot today...and Kelson still is really good (or should I say bad?) at ignoring us when he wants to. We have to literally scream to get him to listen. So frustrating. And it completely ruins the day when I get home for lunch and the first thing I have to do is start punishing the boys. And it is even worse when I come home from work at the end of the day and it is more of the same thing. I really don't know what to do. They behave themselves somewhat when I'm home, but they still started fighting last night. They went into the addition to play basketball and within 5 minutes were hitting each other. I sent them to bed at 7:45...of course they cried for about 10 minutes, then went to sleep. Maybe it was just a lack of sleep thing today, I don't know. I sure hope so.

Arellano Update
Haven't heard from dad so I'm not sure how Grandma is doing. No news is good news, I guess.

Marcos went to Raleigh tonight to play golf. He promised Cade that he would take him to hit golf balls on Friday. He asked that we hold him to it.

Haven't even seen mom and Marcos since Monday. Been too busy I guess.

Christensen Update
None to report that I know of.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:^
Sleep: 11:00 - 7:00 - Still working my way towards a 6:30 wake up...

TODAY:
Breakfast: none

Lunch: Leftovers of the double decker tacos we had yesterday...hard shell tacos with a flour tortilla wrapped around it...beans, meat, cheese, sour cream and salsa - Coke.

Dinner: Cheese tortellini with spaghetti sauce and cheese, 2 slices of wheat bread, milk...for dessert I had 2 macadamia nut cookies leftover from Subway last night...then I had a piece of cheesecake factory cheesecake, covered with chocolate sauce and whip cream. Pretty dang good. The cheesecake has been in the freezer for a couple of weeks and I was afraid it was going to go bad, so I pulled it out tonight...but I forgot that I had the 2 cookies that were getting stale, and the cheesecake had already thawed out...so I had to eat them both, right?

Room Delays Continue

***Text in this color authored by Shena***

Work & Play
Well, the inspector finally showed up today. I won't get into all the "so and so said this and so and so should have done that" that is going on with the construction crew. But the inspector failed the HVAC, which means he will have to come out again (hopefully tomorrow?). The guys had left one of the ducts open so that he could see how it was done, but the inspector didn't know that because none of the construction guys were here when he showed up. He also said that they needed to do a "load calculation," which you may recall we had to do for the FIRST HVAC inspection. The inspector didn't bother to look through the paperwork that was in the permit box. He just openend the box long enough to check off "Failed". Shena is mad at everyone now...me, the construction guys, the inspector. One of the guys showed up this afternoon to close up the duct and to put the report up so it is covering the inspection board so that the inspector will see it. Hopefully it will pass now...but I'm not getting my hopes up.

I worked late. Got some good advice from Jim for about an hour as we talked about buisness and what I could be doing better, etc. I appreciate the time he takes to mentor me and guide me.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
Not much went on at home today. Shena and the boys didn't even go anywhere, I don't think. When I got home from work Cade was asleep on the couch. Shena was feeling a little under the weather, so Kelson and I ran an errand for her to Target. He doesn't get to do that much. Usually it is Cade who gets to run the errands with one of the adults by himself. I think he was excited to be the one who got to go. When we got there, he didn't want to ride in a cart, he wanted to walk, so I just let him walk behind me. He wouldn't walk next to me (he was too busy looking around), but I could hear him slapping his feet against the floor as he walked, so I knew exactly where he was the entire time. It took us 3 times as long to run the errand with him running free like that. He was constantly finding something he recognized on the packages...Elmo, Dora, Shrek, The Incredibles...and whenever he saw one, he would run up to it, yell out "Daddy, 'credibleshh'...like...uh-huh." (He says "like" and hits his chest when he is telling you that he likes something) Then he'd pick it up and bring it over to me to make sure that I saw what he was looking at. He was in his own little world there for a while. I could have picked him up and carried him and it would have gone much faster, but we weren't in any hurry.

Arellano Update
Hardly talked to mom or Marcos today. I did get crap from Lettie about not writing in my blog last week. I expected to, so no big deal.

Christensen Update
None to report that I know of.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 11:03 - 7:20

TODAY:
Breakfast: none

Lunch: Double decker tacos (hard shell tacos with a flour tortilla wrapped around the hard shell)...meat, beans, cheese, sour cream, salsa. Pretty dang good. A nice change from what we normally eat. Also had a coke with that.

Dinner: Subway - I was in charge of dinner tonight, can you tell? I had an Italian BMT with extra white American cheese, toasted, light lettuce, honey mustard, olives and pickles. It was pretty good. Had a few sun chips with it and then had a couple Subway oatmeal and raisin cookies just before bed time.

Not A lot of News

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Work & Play
We still haven't seen the HVAC inspector. According to our construction guys, he would be here either Friday or Monday. He didn't show up either time. I'm not sure who is to blame, but I called and left a somewhat nasty message on one of the guys phones. I hate doing that, but sometimes you've got to "squeek" a little to get some grease. I would much rather have those guys mad at me for being a butt than have my wife mad at me...which is what it is coming down to.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
After work we had originally planned on going to hit golf balls at Bur-Mil for FHE, but 6 Grasshopper tickets opened up for us, so we decided to do that instead. The boys like to go...kinda. They don't like to sit in the seats, but they like to go to the game. At least it gives us adults a chance to be entertained while the boys are entertained in the playground area. They spent the entire game (the 8 innings we were there) either in the playground, or on a patch of grass that is on the fould line in right field, which is also where I spent the whole night. I didn't even sit in the seat that I was assigned. Mom, Marcos, Shena and Gabriel (my cousin who came along) all sat in the seats for a while. Kelson was picking up rocks and throwing them over the rail towards the opposing teams bullpen. Luckily he didn't hit anybody. Little booger just doesn't listen sometimes. I finally got him to quit throwing the rocks and instead set them in a pile. I don't think he thought that was as fun.

Just before the game we stopped in at Sonic to eat dinner. That's it...nothing exciting to tell about that.

Arellano Update
As mentioned above, Mom, Marcos and Gabriel went with us to the game. The end.

Christensen Update
None to report that I know of.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 12:03 - 7:48 - we got in a little late from Plummer's (as usual)...took a while to get the boys to bed after giving them a bath and such

TODAY:
Breakfast: 1 bowl of Lucky Charms

Lunch: 2 peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwiches on Pepper Ridge farm wheat bread (Shena bought it because she likes it for toast), milk

Dinner: Sonic - Sonic burger (double cheeseburger)...it was supposed to be no tomato, no onion, but they put both on it. I could take the tomato off easy, but the onion is diced, so it's hard to get off. I just ate it as is. Not nearly as good that way. Had tots and a Barq's root beer with it. Had a couple Target brand oreo type cookies and milk just before bed.

Last week Summary

Ok, so I've been really slack this last week about blogging, so I'm going to get back on the horse this week...but there is no way I can do a full entry for the last six days...so you are going to get the summary version. Sorry. But considering I haven't done this to you in the last 4 months, I think that is pretty good, no?

Wednesday - 18th
Hmmm...that was a long time ago. Can't seem to remember what went on that day. I think that is the day that Marcos had the idea that he wanted us all to go camping on Friday night. I got the day off and we started making plans to do so. We also found out that dad would be home from his Myrtle Beach golf trip on Thursday, and would be leaving early Friday morning to go to Mexico for an indefinite amount of time. Grandma Arellano is getting pretty sick and they don't know how much longer she will hang on. I feel bad for dad, but I think it will be a bit of a relief for him too...he worries too much about her.

Thursday - 19th
About the only thing I can remember for sure is that we went to a "Orientation" type thing for Cade's school (with Cade). It was supposed to be a pot luck, but apparently people don't know what pot luck means because only about 1/2 the people brought something. It was ok, nothing real exciting. They tried to get most of the kids out for part of it, but Cade didn't want to go into the classroom with them. He wanted to stay with mommy. I have a feeling the first week of school may be a little rough. I guess the teachers are used to dealing with that...but then again, maybe not. Maybe they are used to dealing with kids who have been in daycare or pre-school already and have no problem leaving their parents. Should be interesting. We also decided not to go camping after all. They were calling for rain most of the day, and we didn't feel like trying to sleep in the rain and dealing with all the mud and stuff. I was a little disappointed because I was looking forward to going, but oh well.

Friday - 20th
Since I had already asked for the day off, I still took it off. I didn't feel like going in to work. Did some chores around the house in the morning, then mom, Marcos and I went to see Star Wars (Shena said she wasn't interested). The movie was pretty good. Good enough for me, anyway. I thought it answered the questions about how people ended up where sufficiently. I'm not die hard, though, so take it for what it's worth. Shena painted while we were gone, and completely finished the room. We are still waiting on the inspections. Speaking of, we found out today that they didn't order an HVAC final inspection like they were supposed to, so they couldn't do the final inspection until they did. Shena was livid. That means it will be at least another week before we can get in. Now we are just paying for the room and can't use it...although we are anyway. Shena and I went test driving for the rest of the afternoon, with a break for dinner at Ham's in between the Toyota dealership and the Honda dealership. The boys were with Grandma and tio while we did test drives. The whole Sienna vs. Odyssey question will be for a different blog...because it would be a long one. Long story short, we can't decide which we like better. We would take either one if it was given to us, but since that isn't going to happen, we are really having a hard time deciding which one we want to pay for. We are 3-6 months away from buying, so we aren't in any rush, but it would be nice to know which we want so that we can keep our eyes open for a deal.

Saturday - 21st
I did yard work in the morning, then watched the boys part of the afternoon. Shena had a baby shower to go to for Susie Hiatt. The boys and I took over the bonus room as our own personal play room. Since Shena is done painting in there, it is a big empty room. We pulled Cade's basketball hoop and put it into the corner, brought some bean bags in and then played basketball and dodge ball. Well, Cade and Kelson played dodge ball. I just got to throw the ball at them. Don't look at me like that. They love it. They laugh the entire time or I wouldn't do it. It's not like I throw it at their head or anything. We watched the Plummer kids Saturday night. Ed and Dede hadn't seen each other much for the last couple of weeks, and we felt guilty for contributing to that "not seeing each other much" by being at their house all the time, so we offered to let them have a night to themself. We didn't ask many details about what they did...we didn't want to know.

Sunday - 22nd
Church, nap, then Plummer's. That is the usual, isn't it? Marcos went over with us this time, since he was bragging about how good he was at pool. Let's just say that I won the last two games of the night...that is all I have to remember. We had a good time, though. Enough said.

Outline for Today

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Work & Play
So this is as much information as you are getting for this day. I'm not going to be able to flesh out this entry at all. Maybe you get the idea...?

Gutters up by end of dinner
Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)

Arellano Update
Dinner at mom's
Christensen Update
Bart's birthday
Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 11:00 - 7:30 - still trying to recover from Saturday night

TODAY:
Breakfast: none

Lunch: Hot Dogs again...had to get the buns eaten before they go stale...Lay's cheddar and sour cream flavored chips, Coke...had a couple oreos and milk too

Dinner: home made corn tortillas, re-fried beans, chorizo and eggs, cheese, Sprite - had the last of the strawberries for dessert just before I went to bed with whip cream and a Dolly Madison shortcake.

Never See Racing Stripes

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Work & Play
Work was a typical Monday...actually, not that bad. Busy, but not a bad day. Can't complain.

Some guy showed up to give us a quote on getting our gutters put in. Finally. The last step, I think. He said he would be back tomorrow afternoon to get it done. Let's hope so. Shena is ready to blow her top at these guys, and I don't want her to do that...but it is starting to get borderline ridiculous. They went really fast on the big stuff that I thought would take them a long time, and then the small stuff that should only take a couple of hours has taken weeks. Pretty frustrating.

Met mom, Marcos, Stu Miller and Kyle Oakley at Mexico for dinner. We sat out on the patio (70 and Sunny today). Nice night for it. And we were the only ones out there for most of the time we were there, which meant the boys could run around a little bit and we didn't care.

After dinner we ALL came over to our house to watch "Racing Stripes." Not nearly as good as the previews made it out to be. Dragged along...just kind of a boring movie. One or two funny parts, but they weren't THAT funny. I was excited because Snoop Dogg was supposed to be in the movie, but he only had three lines. And they weren't even funny. The boys liked it, though. They liked the talking animals. We had Cook-out shakes for a treat during the movie. Good times, good times.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
The boys have been good boys today. They behaved themselves for the most part at the restaurant and that is all we really ask (well, not really, we ask for a lot more).

Arellano Update
Dad went to Myrtle Beach with a bunch of friends from church to play golf for the week. I'm not even sure how long he is going to be gone, but I know it is at least until the weekend. Marcos had the chance to go but he didn't. Claimed he had to write a paper, but I would have skipped the paper for a chance to golf for a straight week.

Christensen Update
Kyle is in Boise at the state golf tournament. Sounds like they are doing well and have a decent shot at winning it all. That and he is also playing well in the "Coaches Tournament" that they have during the state tournament.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 11:30 - 8:00 - I am trying to recover from that rough night of sleep I had on Saturday.

TODAY:
Breakfast: none

Lunch: 2 hot dogs with mustard, ketchup and cheese, baked beans, Ruffles originals, IBC - then I had some strawberry shortcake. The strawberries are quickly losing their freshness and I've got to get them eaten before they spoil!

Dinner: Mexico - Lunch order of chicken fajitas, flour tortillas, rice, beans, sprite, chips and cheese dip. We had a Cook-out shake for treats during FHE (the movie).

1/2 Stake Conference

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Work & Play
Had Stake Conference this weekend. We have yet to be able to stay for the entire two hours with our boys...and this year was no different. We sat in the Primary room prepared with coloring books, cars and food. We still only made it about an hour. Kelson was the one who caused us to go home this time. Cade probably would have been ok for another 45 minutes or so. That's what happens, though.

Had lunch with the Idaho Group. We had a mini-baby shower for Susie Hiatt, who is due in a couple weeks. I actually missed most of the party because I fell asleep reading "A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." I've never read it before, and Marcos brought it home. He wanted to read it before he went and saw the movie. When I saw how short the book was, I figured I could have it done in a day or two. It's quick reading. Pretty funny book, too. Hope the movie is ok...if not, I'm always one to be satisfied with cool special effects...

For example...we watched "I, Robot" with the Plummer's tonight. I saw it in the theaters a while back and thought it was pretty good. After I watched it again tonight, I realized that the story itself was kind of weak with a lot of plot holes and unnecesary characters...but I didn't notice the first time because I was so impressed with the special effects. Anyway, who cares, because really, I'm not a movie critic anyway.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
After the movie was over at Plummer's (about 9:00), we ran home and put pajamas on the boys, then took them over to mom and dad's house. They had wanted to stay the night last night, but we didn't think it was a good idea with church and all. They were still excited to spend the night tonight, though. As we drove home they both about fell asleep, and then even after changing into their pj's and getting their stuff together, they still almost fell asleep again on the drive over to mom's. But when they got to the house, they were wired. Grandma put on "A Knight's Tale" for them, made some popcorn, and they were ready to go. Marcos was trying to get them to go to sleep so that he could sneak off and go out with his buddies, but I don't think they cooperated very well.

Arellano Update
None to report.

Christensen Update
None to report that I know of.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 1:30 - 3:00, 3:30 - 4:30 (on the couch), 5:00 - 7:30, 7:45 - 8:45 - my bad was pretty stiff after all that yard work yesterday...had a hard time getting comfortable, as you can see...long, long night

TODAY:
Breakfast: none

Lunch: Tracy's chicken, scalloped potatoes with cheese, corn on the cob, rolls with home made strawberry jam, root beer, strawberry shortcake for dessert - very, very good lunch today

Dinner: (late...about 9:00) - had a couple of mini-candy bars at Plummer's before this, to tide me over...but had left over tracy's chicken on corn tortillas with cheese and a coke as we dropped off the boys at grandma's to spend the night

Welcome home, Tio

***Text in this color authored by Shena***

Work & Play
Typical busy Saturday. Shena and I felt "accomplished" after today.

I went and helped a family move first thing this morning. We had about 15 people out there again, so it went very quickly. We packed them up, moved them, then unloaded in an hour and 15 minutes. Not bad at all. And that wasn't even a whole lot of work for the majority of those 15 people.

Mowed the yard and weed eatededed for the first time in several weeks. Pretty sad. We've become the white trash of the neighborhood. It's hard to be motivated to do your front yard when your back yard is as torn up as our is. I then spent a good majority of the afternoon picking rocks out of the backyard. At some point somebody on the property dumped a whole bunch of rocks about six inches deep on the ground around the tree that we left standing. I don't want to leave them there, so I am pulling them up one by one...luckily they are a little bit big (not gravel or anything), so it isn't too hard to find them, but it is time consuming. After my back was tired of crouching for so long, I decided to start clearing the piece of the yard where the storage shed is going to go. Right now there is a bunch of mulch back there, so I'm having to shovel and rake it away down to the dirt. I got about half of that finished when it was time to come inside and help Shena clean the house. She had been painting the whole time I was out in the yard, so we split up the chores.

After cleaning the house, we went grocery shopping. We had been worried about Dede all day because she's had an ear infection for several days that wasn't getting better. Shena called her to check on her and see if she needed anything. Next thing I know we are shopping for their groceries and going over there to eat dinner. It always happens. Shena calls, we wind up going over there. Which is fine with me, it really is. Only problem is I'm afraid they think they HAVE to invites us over when we call, and they don't really want us over. It's ridiculous. It's like dating all over again...but with a couple. You know what I'm talking about (especially if you're married), right? When you are single and you first start seeing somebody, you wonder how much is too much...you like them, you want to see them, but you don't want to smother them. Next thing you know, you do, and you don't talk anymore. There is the akward "you want to do something" stage, where you are nervous to ask them to do something because you are afraid if they say "no" it is because they don't like you or maybe they really did have other plans...or they really do have to wash their hair that night...or they really are afraid that the world is going to end that night and they want to spend it with their roommates (is it weird that I got that one more than once?). Anyway...that's my take. Back to the story...getting the groceries and going to the Plummer's would be fine with me any other night, but Marcos was supposed to be landing at 7:50 and we had told mom and dad they could swing by the house on the way home from the airport. When we left the grocery store to head to the Plummer's it was 6:50 and I felt bad that we were going to show up to eat and run. I knew they wouldn't understand...and they didn't. I took crap all night for it. We wound up calling Marcos and telling him we would come by mom's house to see him before we headed home. Ed and I got a quick game of pool in, then went to see Tio Marcos.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
Cade was a good helper today. Kelson slept most of the time while I was outside, and so Cade helped pick rocks for about 20 minutes...then he started seeing worms in the ground and spent the rest of the time while I was playing rocks, playing with the worms. He was picking them up and making them talk to each other and fight and stuff. Pretty funny. He kept telling me how "mommy doesn't like worms...mommy does like snakes either." After I moved to clear the storage shed site, he went inside and got his shovel and rake and came out and helped me with that too. Good kid. Likes to play outside. I can't wait to get the grass grown in our yard so that he and Kelson can play outside all they want.

Arellano Update
When we went to see Marcos at mom and dad's he was outside in the backyard. He came around the side and opened the gate to the fence...when Cade saw him he lit up and said "Tio" and went running towards him...Marcos opened his arms to give Cade a hug...Cade ran right past him into the backyard. He was excited to see Tio, but more interested in getting into the backyard to play. Kelson saw Cade running to the backyard, so he took off after him, Marcos tried again, stood there with his arms open and said "Hi Kelson, give me a love." No dice. Ran right past him into the backyard. Welcome home, tio.

Christensen Update
None to report that I know of.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 10:30 - 7:00

TODAY:
Breakfast: Bacon egg and cheese McGriddle , oj

Lunch: strawberries and whip cream, left over cheese pizza from Village Tavern last night

Dinner: bratwurst with sauerkraut (sp?) and mustard on a bun - my first experience with both the brat and the kraut...not bad at all...I think I actually preferred it to a hot dog, had some ruffles originals and an IBC root beer, too

Mother's Day Celebration

***Text in this color authored by Shena***

Work & Play
A fairly quiet day at work. Not a whole lot of phone calls going on, which is pretty typical for a Friday. It gave me some time to do a little studying for my CLU course I am taking right now (Legal Aspects of Life Insurance). I will be taking that test in about 4 weeks, so I've got to keep plugging away at that. I didn't go home for lunch today either because they are re-paving Elm Street right in front of the building and there was traffic backed up there most of the day...plus Shena was at mom's which adds about 15 minutes to my commute time. I probably would have had 10 minutes to eat once I got there to be back in an hour. Didn't seem worth it today.

After work we went out to eat with Mom and Dad to "celebrate" Mother's Day. We went to the Village Tavern. For some reason dad doesn't like it much and so we hardly ever eat there, but he relented since both Shena and mom wanted to go there. It's good stuff. Maybe that is where we will take Zach & Kristy Stout when they visit in August.

After dinner, we stopped at our house to open presents. The boys and I got Shena a blue "Life is Good" with the guy doing a Tiger putter pump. Shena also got a pair of Braves pajama pants from my parents, and then all of us kids chipped in and got mom a Braves stadium blanket (a great big one that is not real useful during baseball season in Atlanta...I don't think she will be using it when we go to the game in July with Bart & Ryan).

The boys went with grandpa to his house after that while mom went to her book club. Shena and I went to Lowe's and friendly to pick up some stuff...nothing exciting so I won't report it. Let's just say I don't mind going shopping with Shena every now and then...but every time I do I remember how bad I hate shopping (and it's nothing against Shena...she really isn't bad at all, she gets in and out pretty good...it's just the shopping in general I don't like).

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
What else can I tell you that I haven't already? Nothing.

Arellano Update
Same thing here...except to say that we found out Marcos is coming home tomorrow night at 7:50 on Delta...in case any of you want to meet him at the airport...

Christensen Update
None to report that I now of.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:^
Sleep: 12:00 - 7:15 - I'm never going to get up at 6:30 if I keep going to sleep at 12:00

TODAY:
Breakfast: None

Lunch: Taco Bell - grilled chicken stuffed burrito (those things are pretty big), water

Dinner: Yummy...Village Tavern - I ordered a bacon and cheese grilled chicken with fries, Shena ordered a cheeseburger with chips. We cut our sandwiches in half and split them. So good. So, so good. I also WANTED to order a cheese cake (traditional cheese cake, stacked on top of a chocolate cheesecake, divided by chocolate cake, topped with raspberries and chocolate and raspberry sauce...mmmmm), but there was no way I could eat all of it, so I settled for a key lime pie, which was dang good itself. I had water to wash it all down.

This one time, while I was surfing...

***Text in this color authored by Shena***

Work & Play
I stumbled across this website of some crazy guy in Utah. Just so you know...this is how good I wish my blog was. When I'm writing it, I'm as funny as Eric D. Snyder. I know it's not that funny when you read it...but it's that funny when I write it. Anyway...for some reason I was wondering if "Five Buck Pizza" had a website, so I did a quick Google search. Didn't find a website for them, but found this guys website (he made mention of Five Buck at some point in the site). Turns out he is the original founder of "The Garrens" (a comedy troupe that is quite famous in the Provo area). I've never actually seen a show live, but I've heard all about them. Of course this guy knows one of my buddies who used to be a part of The Garrens, Aaron Johnston. Anyway, long story short, it's a pretty funny webiste (my favorite part here, good articles, etc. Drop by if you are into Mormon comedy.

Work was fine today. Nothing exciting. After work was fine today. Nothing exciting. The end. Seriously...didn't do much tonight. Tried to go to Elder's Quorum meeting, but nobody else showed up (have I been kicked out of the club and I don't know it?), watched a couple of Star Wars parody movies on atomfilms.com (nothing really that great, except for this one that is a parody of Star Wars that is a parody of Napolean Dynamite called "Anakin Dynamite,") but I don't know what I was expecting). I just did a lot of surfing tonight...haven't done that in a while. Shena and I also finally watched "The Amazing Race" finale that was on two nights ago. I knew who won, she didn't. She kept getting mad at me for not telling her. Even five minutes before it was over she was yelling at me to tell her who won. She couldn't even wait five minutes. So sad.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
The boys were pretty good today, except Kelson broke our bay window bench already. Shena had it on a stool to paint and he decided he wanted the stool so he pushed the bench off the stool. One of the guys fixed it, but it doesn't look as good as it did before. Destructive little kid.

Arellano Update
Mom and dad had the boys over for part of the day. Didn't take much talking to get them to go. Shena said that when Kelson woke up from his nap in the afternoon he was a little grouchy, but when she told him that she was going to piano lessons he said "Grandpa? Me?" And cheered right up.

We ate at mom and dad's for dinner, and afterwards they came over to see the work that had been done on the West Wing that they had missed the last two weeks.

Christensen Update
Alyssa called and said that she was pregnant, so that is exciting news. This will be their first baby. She and Shena talked for a few minutes, and Cade and Kelson talked to her too. The funny part was when Kelson was on the phone, Cade was telling him what to say, like Shena does when she is with Kelson and he's on the phone. If you don't prod him, he just sits there.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 12:15 - 7:35 - picking up mom and dad so late threw me off!

TODAY:
Breakfast: 1 bowl of frosted mini-wheats

Lunch: One piece of Domino's cheese pizza (left over from last night), some fresh strawberries and whipping cream, an oreo cookie and a small glass of milk

Dinner: pinto beans, home made corn tortillas and cheese, coke - had a couple of oreo cookies and a banana with milk just before bed...all this talking about food reminds me of another skit I read on Eric D. Snyder's website that I thought applied to me...what do you think?

Buy that guy an Ab-Flexer

***Text in this color authored by Shena***

Work & Play
Nothing exciting at work for me. It was a crazy day around the house though (see Cheeto's Brood). I'll tell all my stories down there.

Except for this one...during lunch I was talking to Dede and Shena and told them about this article about Pregnant moms. Basically says women who are having boys have less memory problems during pregnancy than women who are carrying girls. I am making my prediction now that Leesa Lundrigan is carrying a girl because she seems to be having "forgettful moments" on a somewhat regular occassion. Dede didn't buy into the story, so I post it for her own reading.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
Shena started painting at 5:00 am. She actually was just priming all the trim and the doors. About 10:00 Dede and Hank came over to help. Bonus for me because that way I won't have to help paint (I hate painting...I'd rather work in the yard, and everybody knows I don't like to do that much either). They got a couple coats on the walls and at least one coat on all the trim. It took them most of the day. Shena said the walls were the easy part...that the trim is what took forever. Dede said that the $400 we saved by painting it ourselves wasn't worth it. Ed said the same thing about the $1,500 to $2,000 we saved by cutting up and clearing our own trees. I guess that is what they felt since they got dragged into helping out. Can't say that I blame them. I took the girls smoothies from the Juice Shop, and Dede bought McDonald's for the boys. Shena said they were pretty good while they painted, but were a little whiny towards the end. The room looks good, though. They finally cut out the holes in the flooring where the vents were so that the A/C could come in the room. The girls appreciated that because it would have been pretty hot in there otherwise.

Shena went with Carolyn Yow to go wedding reception shopping tonight. That meant the boys and I were on our own again, so we went to the Grasshoppers game. The boys were much less interested tonight than they were last time. It took about two innings before they were bored. Luckily, Hank and Ed went with us and Dede packed three game boys in Hank's backpack. All three of them took one and played the game boys instead of watching the game. Kinda sad, huh? Ed and I just kind of hung out and watched the game. After about the 5th (and 2 hours later), we took the boys up to the playground to let them run off some of their energy. Kelson was not sitting still at that point and I was ready to tie him down to his chair. Just as we got up to the playground, a foul ball was hit back over the net where we were sitting. The three guys that were sitting right in front of us got the ball. Made me mad. Then a couple of innings later a fould ball came up to the area where we were standing while the boys played and I ran over to try to get it and it bounced off the grass and into some big redneck's beer belly and ricocheted the other way. If he would have just kept talking on his cell phone and ignored the ball, it was mine...but he had to go and get his Goodyear Semi spare tire in the way.

Arellano Update
Mom and dad's plane got in abou 20 minutes early, so I was a little late picking them up. I checked the United website at 10:58 to see if they were still landing at 11:15 (on time). It said they had landed at 10:56. I rushed out the door, but was still about 3 or 4 minutes late picking them up. They were on the curb with the luggage waiting for me. They said they didn't mind because it was a nice night and only 8:00 their time.

Mom said Adam and Melissa finally picked a name for the baby...Garrett (sp?). Not sure if he got a middle name or not. I'll let you know.

Christensen Update
None to report that I know of.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 10:45 - 7:11 - I put in ear plugs last night because I was ready for sleep and Shena wasn't, so she was watching TV. Ear plugs really helped put me out. I seem to sleep much deeper when I have them in because I can't hear every noise that is going on. Felt like I slept pretty good last night.

TODAY:
Breakfast: none

Lunch: McDonald's - quarter pounder with cheese, no onions, fries, coke - had a small bowl of fudge brownie, caramel in vanilla ice cream. Not that great, but the only sweets we had around the house.

Dinner: Domino's - had a couple pieces of cheese pizza, water - had a couple oreos and milk just before bed

Dead Birds

***Text in this color authored by Shena***

Work & Play
Had a hard time working today. They are doing some road work on Elm Street, right outside my window. They were jackhammering a good part of the day and I am too easily distracted. That bit (not exactly "a bit"...more like a lot) of noise was bugging me. I couldn't concentrate very well. I think they are done after today, though...thank goodness.

The guy from Dutch Barns did show up this morning. He thinks there shouldn't be a problem having the shed delivered, so we went ahead and placed the order. We will be getting the 10x12 like we wanted. Should be here in 3 or 4 weeks he said. I'm hoping that he is "under promising and over delivering." I'd love to have it out there faster than that. We'll have to wait and see.

The baby birds didn't make it. When I went out to check on them this morning they were all dead. Apparently the mother never came back. I guess that lady we talked to on the phone didn't know what she was talking about or something. I feel kinda bad about it, but I sure wasn't going to pay somebody $50 to come and get them. And I thought the lady knew what she was talking about, too. Listen to me...sounds like I'm rationalizing, doesn't it?

They finally finished the trim inside the house. One of the guys came back at the end of the day to caulk all the trim and windows so that Shena could paint tomorrow like she wants. We are down to about 3 things left on the house...just wish they would hurry up and do it. It seems to be taking forever.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
Shena had Relief Society Enrichment Night, so the boys and I were on our own. She and Becky Hiatt went and picked strawberries yesterday morning so that they could make jam tonight. It was apparently a pretty popular activity. They gave out the recipe to everybody there, which it sounds like was the main reason they got such a turnout. After her meeting, she took a contained of strawberry jam over to Dede, who didn't go. It was almost 10:00 before she got home.

Shena took Kelson to get his 2 year pictures taken today. She said she tried to get pictures of both of the boys together, but none of them turned out. Sounds like it is too tough a job to handle on her own. Our two little boys are a handful alone, let alone together. They didn't cooperate much when it came time to take the pictures. We got one good one of Kelson, anyway. Many of you will be receiving a copy in the mail. If you don't get one, and want one, let me know.

The boys and I did a little yard work while Shena was gone, cleaned one of the windows (where the bird had been pooping all over the side of the house as she came in and out), then we hung out and played Playstation until bed time. When I mentioned something about going to bed, Kelson disappeared into his room and came out a few minutes later with the pajamas he wanted to wear. He tried to dress himself and was very nice about asking me to help him when he needed it. He can be so cute sometimes...while other times you just want to tan his hide for the mischief he is getting into.

Cade was a really good kid today too. After we came in from working outside we cleaned the living room and their bedroom (all toys everywhere). Kelson helped pick up the living room, but when it came time for the bedroom, Cade did about 90% of it by himself...and didn't complain once. He worked really hard and put everything away. I didn't even really have to tell him where to put things or what I wanted picked up. It may not seem like much to you, but for us it is exciting. He's becoming more self-sufficient. We are working on turning off his bedroom light when he leaves the room, this week. He has gotten into the bad habit of turning it on, but not off. He's getting better at it.

Arellano Update
Still no resolution on the name of the new Arellano baby boy. Mom and dad fly back from SD tomorrow night..late.

Christensen Update
None to report that I know of.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 10:45 - 6:40 - see...told you I was getting closer to 6:30

TODAY:
Breakfast: 1/2 bowl of honey nut cheerios...I didn't plan on eating breakfast this morning, but Cade asked for cereal, and both Shena and I fixed him a bowl...so I wound up eating the one I fixed.

Lunch: Leftover pasta from last night, leftover bread from last night, milk, a homemade twinkie

Dinner: Cheese stuffed shells with spaghetti sauce, covered with cheese, milk, had a cookie and a home made twinkie before bed.

I Swear I Left a Message on Friday

***Text in this color authored by Shena***

Work & Play
So the guy from Dutch Barns was supposed to show up this morning between 8:30 and 9:00 to look and see if they would be able to deliver the shed from their shop. At 9:15 I called over there to see where he was, and he claims that he left a message on Friday. So I wasted an hour of work waiting for this guy to come and he never shows up. What would you do in this situation? Me? Nothing. I said "ok, no problem, talk to you tomorrow then." If I was REALLY mad I would buy from somebody else...but there really isn't anybody else who can do as good of a job as Dutch Barns (they really are built well). And I can't talk to another salesman because...he's it. He's there only salesman (they don't get a lot of repeat customers...once you have a storage shed on your lot, you won't need another one for 20-25 maybe 30 years). The other thing I could have done was try to get a discount, but I'm too much of a wuss. When it comes time to buy a car in the fall (Shena's mini-van) I am going to have to make some changes so that I can be tough with those salesman. Anyway, he is supposed to be here tomorrow.

The construction guys showed up to work on the house. Finishing up the details now. They got the bench inside the bay window built and a lot of the trim finished inside. We decided not to put shelves on the bay window after all. We felt like it would make the space too small and they really wouldn't be deep enough for books anyway. I wasn't real crazy on the shelf idea anyway...that was something that Shena and Leon came up with in the beginning, so I wasn't too upset when she decided not to have them put on there. They also got most of the metal work around the edges of the house up. When they did that, they got the bird that was living in the eaves out of there (did I tell you about that? can't remember...long story short...they had pulled back some of the metal when they were building the addition and a bird started living up there in the eaves...stupid thing was pooping on our house every time it came out of there). So they got it out so it wouldn't get trapped up there and die then stink. Well they also found a nest in there...with baby chicks about 3 or 4 days old too. They put the nest in a tree close to the house, and Shena spent all day trying to get somebody to come out and take care of the chicks. We finally talked to a lady who does that, but she had a meeting tonight and couldn't make it over. She told me to listen for the chicks squawking as it got dark. If I couldn't hear them squawking, then the mother was there and she was taking care of them. I didn't hear them, so I went to bed. The guys did say they saw the mother climbing on the roof of the house trying to get in, but they never saw her find the nest. Hope she did.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
The boys were pretty good today. Not much else to report.

Arellano Update
Melissa had their baby about 1:00 am this morning. As of right now his name is "Arellano Baby Boy" because Adam and Melissa can't decide on a name. Not sure how long this will go on, but it could get ugly. Why don't they just call him "Cheeto" and get on with it? For more information on the birthing of the baby (and some VERY graphic c-section pictures) go here.

Christensen Update
Cherie finally got her mother's day gift that Shena sent over a week ago. I have no idea why it takes so long to get stuff out there, but it is borderline ridiculous. I guess we call it snail mail for a reason.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 11:00 - 6:50 - getting closer to 6:30, aren't I?

TODAY:
Breakfast: none

Lunch: Tracy's chicken (leftover from yesterday) sandwich on a bun with double cheese, toasted...pretty dang good...ruffles, A&W

Dinner: Some kind of dinner in a box thing...pasta with some white sauce with chicken pieces...I really should have read the box...I don't know exactly what it was...not bad for a boxed meal, though...also had a piece of cheese bread, water...had a couple home made twinkies for dessert (with milk of course)

It Isn't REALLY Mother's Day Is It?

***Text in this color authored by Shena***

Work & Play
We had already decided to wait and "celebrate" Mother's Day on this coming Friday when mom and dad are back from CA, but I still felt guilty all day. I completely forgot to get a flower for Shena to wear to church until I got out of bed. And I was also going to make her some breakfast in bed...but completely slept through that too. What a jerk, huh?

Plummer's got a new grill last week and had been waiting for an excuse to use it and decided that today was the day. They invited us over the other night, but I didn't feel like we should be crashing their Mother's Day party, especially since Ed's parents were here. But I also felt bad for arguing with them about whether we were coming or not. So when Dede asked us again on Sunday at church if we were coming, I finally relented. We went over and spent the day with them. Ed's got a nice grill. He told me the way he buys "big" things like that is he opens Consumer Reports and buys their "best pick" regardless of how cheap or expensive it is. That is what he did with his grill. It's a nice one, I must admit. I have a little grill envy going right now. We of course played a little pool after and sat around and talked a lot. Nothing much to report there.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
Cade was a little disapointed that we had to take the Incredibles game back to the video store, but he didn't pitch a fit. He amazes me sometimes how he can be such a good kid 80% of the time, then a real stinker the other 20% of the time. Drives me nuts, actually.

Arellano Update
Melissa went to the hospital today with labor pains. They also found out that she is no longer scheduled for her c-section on Monday. Somebody either deleted her name from the system on accident....or on purpose. A conspiracy? Maybe. Everybody has it out for the Mexicans.

Christensen Update
None to report that I know of.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 10:30 - 7:45 - nice guy, huh? Don't even get up early to make Shena breakfast on Mother's day. What a guy.

TODAY:
Breakfast: none

Lunch: none - just kind of snacked on a thing of yogurt, a couple cookies, some crackers

Dinner: Tracy's chicken, a couple bites of steak, baked beans, A&W - then we had some home made twinkies for dessert

Golf in Charlotte

***Text in this color authored by Shena***

Work & Play
Crazy, long day today. I got up early to go down to Charlotte to play golf with a HS buddy I hadn't seen in a while. We talk every now and then and we have been talking about playing for a long time, but just have never done it. He brought along a buddy of his and the three of us played a course called Springfield in Pineville. Not a bad course, especially considering I didn't have to pay greens fees, just the cart fees. I didn't play well, but we had a good time and it was a beautiful day (75 and sunny). I got home about 4:30.

After a quick shower, we ran by Plummer's to pick up Hank because the rest of the Plummer's were going to the play and we wanted to go out to JC Penney to look at some area rugs for the addition. He came willingly without getting too upset. Dede had been talking it up all day and she said he was excited to get to come and play at Cade & Kelson's house. We had a good time at JC Penney. The boys were all riled up and running around the store chasing each other and stuff. We spent about 20 minutes at the store...Shena shopping while I tried to entertain the three wild men. Cade said he had to go to the bathroom, so we headed to the other side of the store as Shena finished up ordering a rug from the catalog. She said she would meet us out in the car. When Cade and I got back, Hank was crying. She said he started crying when I left and said he wanted to go home. He wouldn't talk to us the rest of the way home. Shena said nobody else was hungry and we were driving past Hardee's, so I took advantage. I would like to eat their burgers more, but I don't get the chance to very often. We got a large fry for the boys, thinking that would help Hank a little. He loves french fries as much as C & K, so we thought we could bribe him to be happy to be with us. I had to stop and get gas and when I got out he started crying again. Not sure if it had anything to do with me leaving or not...I think it was just coincidence. When we got home he calmed down and played video games with C & K until Dede stopped to pick him up. Overall, I think it was a good experience.

On the way back from the mall we saw something that was hilarious. I will tell you right now nobody got hurt, so it is ok to laugh. We were driving on the little piece of road between Rice Toyota and Pisgah Church. We had just turned right onto the road when some hefty guy was coming the other way on a bullet bike. For some reason he was stopping in the middle of the road...but as he stopped he kind of wobbled on the bike. Looking back now, that should have been a bad sign for him...but he ignored it. Just as we were going past him he tried to peel out (held down the front brake while he opened the throttle)...and I guess he let go of the brake too quickly because all of the sudden the bike started moving forward then wobbled, then he wiped out and layed his bike down. As we looked in the rear view mirrors, his buddies he was trying to show off for came running out into the street to pick up the bike and get him out of the road. Hilarious. That's what he gets. maybe you had to be there.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
You've heard it already.

Arellano Update
None to report that I know of.

Christensen Update
None to report that I know of.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 11:00 - 5:30 - hmmm...let's see, I can't get up early to go to work all week, but when I have to be up early to go play golf, I don't seem to have a problem...weird, isn't it?

TODAY:
Breakfast: none

Lunch: Hot dog at the golf course ($4 hot dog too)...it was good, but not $4 good. Coke.

Dinner: Hardee's - 1/3 lb bacon cheeseburger, fries, Sprite

Brigadoon

***Text in this color authored by Shena***

Work & Play
Some progress on our addition...finally. I got an e-mail from one of the construction guys last night and he said that he had our wood floor and would be over first thing in the morning to get it installed. He showed up...but the other two guys didn't. Not sure why. It took the guy about 5 hours by himself to get it done. I'm sure if the other two had shown up they would have been done in 2 hours and they would have gotten more done on the trim. Anyway, at least it is still moving along (no matter how slowly). I'm thinking now that we will definitely be into the addition by the end of the year. Thank goodness, too, because I hear it is going to be a cold winter and we would like to have it all finished by then! They really don't have much left. Some trim on the floors, they need to finish casing the door between the kitchen and the bonus room and then gutters and metal work on the outside of the house, finish filling in the holes where the posts are and then put the posts for the deck on. So close, yet so far away. I'm sure if they would just show up and do it it would only take another day and half.

I took an early lunch break to ride out to Dutch Barns with Shena. Since she changed her mind on the style of building she liked (she said before she didn't like the "barn" syle), I wanted to go out there with her so that she could look at them too. I didn't want to order something that she wouldn't like. I think we have decided on one that looks like dad's (Standard Barn...see Thursday for links) but smaller. His is a 10x16, we would like to get a 10x12, but it will depend on if they can deliver it or not. We set an appointment for somebody to come out and do a "lot check" to tell us if they could deliver it or not. He is supposed to be out on Monday morning, just before I go to work.

We went to see "Brigadoon" at the church. It is the "Summit Players" annual play. I've never seen Brigadoon before, so I didn't kow what the story was about, which always makes it harder to follow the play because it is hard to hear the dialogue sometimes, and the songs are impossible to hear the words (unless you know them). It was fine, anyway. I didn't think it was as good as some in the past, but it's not like it was a complete waste of time. We got to sit with the Lundrigan's and the Williams'. After the play we visited with Plummer's for a bit. Ed's parents are there so we met them, and Ed and I played pool with his dad. His parents are funny people...a lot like Ed (strange how that works, isn't it?).

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
The boys went nuts at Dutch Barns. The place has about 30 or 40 storage sheds on their lot that you can look at, and the boys were having fun running around, opening the doors and playing inside the sheds. They would jump up and down inside the shed and scream. Good times. Cade was fine when we went inside to talk to the sales guy, but Kelson decided he wanted to run around and try to destroy things. When I picked him up and told him to quit touching stuff, he started screaming. Nice, huh? It's always nice to have your kids embarass you like that in public places. Having people look at you like you can't control your kid...which you can't when they are two years old and going through the "terrible twos" stage. I just look at Cade and know that Kelson will get to that point eventually.

The boys stayed with the Plummer's while we went to the play. I wonder if they will ever get tired of going over there. We are going to try to watch Hank for them tomorrow night so that they can go (their two girls are going to go to the play with them). He usually has a hard time when he is seperated from his parents, so this could get interesting. I think he will be ok, though, because he seems to like Shena ok.

Arellano Update
None to report that I know of

Christensen Update
None to report that I know of

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 11:30 - 7:04

TODAY:
Breakfast: none

Lunch: McDonald's Big n' Nasty with cheese, no tom, no onion, fries, kool-aid

Dinner: tuna on wheat with cheese, ruffles, milk and a couple of cookies

Standard or High Wall?

***Text in this color authored by Shena***

Work & Play
Feliz Cinco de Mayo everybody! Tequila all around!

During my lunch break I made a quick trip out to Dutch Barns. They build storage sheds, and that is where dad and my neighbor got theirs. The units out there look to be built much better than the ones Lowe’s offers. I think we have decided to have Dutch Barns to build one for us…we just don’t know which style or size yet. Shena and I will be making a trip out there on my lunch break tomorrow to try to decide on a style. We have two different styles in mind, the “Standard Barn” and the “High Wall.” I didn’t really look at the Standard Barn when I was there today because she had seen similar ones in the Lowe’s brochure and said she didn’t like them. But when she saw the pictures of these, she said she didn’t mind. They look to be better built and not so cheap looking. This company likes to build the shed at their place, then deliver it all intact to the house, but we may not have enough room on either side of the house to get their truck to the back where we want it, so we may have to pay an extra $175 to have them build it on site, which would mean we can’t get as big of a unit as we want. It also means we would have to stain it ourselves, and I would just as soon have them do it. I’m sure they can do a better job.

I had to go to Winston-Salem for a seminar on the tobacco buyout that is going on here in the state. Jim may know a couple of farmers who could come into some money because of the buyout and he wanted to be able to help them. Not much to say about the whole situation…I don’t feel like getting on a soapbox right now. I’ll just leave it at this…why do we get ourselves into these things? I can understand subsidizing farmers who produce foods that we need…but why do we subsidize this? Then we get into the situation we are in now…we have to buy off the farmers so that they quit producing tobacco because we can’t just drop them and tell them “figure it out yourself.” Economically irresponsible. No more, I’m done.

After work, we went to Mexico #6 (next to our house) to “celebrate” Cinco de Mayo. Again, something we normally do with mom and dad, but they are tending to more important matters in San Diego. We felt like we should continue the tradition…and for the record it was Shena’s idea. I had thought in my head “today is Cinco de Mayo,” but I hadn’t thought about going to the restaurant. She gets credit for that. Restaurant was hopping. We were there at 5:30, and it was already 2/3 full and was completely full with people waiting when we left. That’s always a good sign!

I didn’t have Elder’s Quorum Presidency meeting because Joe wasn’t feeling well, so I spent the night debating what to do about the storage shed. As mentioned earlier, I think we should get it from Dutch Barns, just not sure which style or size yet.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
Shena had a doctor’s appointment again this afternoon, and since I was in W-S, she dropped the boys at Hiatt’s. I picked them up on the way home and she said they were good. They like it over there…I mean, who couldn’t love the Hiatt’s? When I got there they were in the backyard swinging with Becky in their swinging chair, with Abbey (their dog) running around. The boys love to see Abbey when they are over there, so they probably loved it that she was out of her cage (which is where she normally is when we are there).

Shena has been going to a disease specialist to try to figure out what these white spots are that are in her mouth. Two doctor’s had told her it was thrush, but the medicines they gave her didn’t seem to help a whole bunch and it kept coming back. They finally sent her to this guy. He ran every test he could think of, and they all came back negative (the funniest one he ran was an “AIDS” test. Not funny because it’s aids, but funny because there is just NO WAY that she could possibly have it. She’s never had any blood transfusions and she gave up heroin years ago (kidding). And I don’t need to get into the other ways it is impossible for her to have it. You all know the story. The doctor kept saying “are you SURE there isn’t a possibility?” When Shena kept saying there wasn’t, he said he was going to run the test anyway. Big shocker…she doesn’t have AIDS. Anyway, he got all the results back today and told her he still doesn’t know what it is. Only thing he can think of is that it is some sort of mono that kicks in when she’s pregnant. He said he wanted to see her next time she is pregnant if her mouth breaks out again. Poor girl. He did say she was very healthy though…which is good. She was complaining the other day that she was “broken” but I didn’t believe it.

Cade had the Incredibles game taken away from him today. He was whiny and talking back this morning. “No Incredibles for you.” He shaped up pretty good after that. And he was in our room asking for it again at 7:00 this morning. I also asked him if he wanted to go to the “Spanish school” to learn Spanish today. He said he did. Just as I suspected, he has no idea what he REALLY wants, he just was in a “mood” yesterday when he said he didn’t want to go. We will still with our plan (not that we weren’t going to anyway) of giving him at least one semester in the school to try it out, then re-evaluate.

Kelson is still getting smarter and smarter. He is surprising me with his independence and how much he talks. He still has a bit of a lisp, which is just dang cute. He says his “s” with a weird kind of “th & p” combination type sound. Next time you see him, ask him to say “chips” and watch his mouth when he does it. He also likes to do stuff on his own. That is where having an older sibling comes into play, I think. He sees Cade do stuff by himself and tries to do it too. It’s pretty funny to watch him try to put on socks, shoes, pants, etc. Difference is he doesn’t get frustrated with it like Cade does (although Cade has done much better recently…he doesn’t freak out anymore and scream and cry when he can’t do something…he’ll ask for help instead).

Arellano Update
None to report that I know of...Although, in reading Adam's blog yesterday, I noticed that he said that the girls (mom, Melissa and Lettie) were a little disappointed when he and dad came home from a camping trip early the other day. I told you they were up to something!

Christensen Update
None to report that I know of.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 11:23 - 7:01 - still can't get myself up at 6:30...any ideas anyone?

TODAY:
Breakfast: 1 bowl of frosted mini-wheats

Lunch: ham and cheese sandwich on hamburger bun, ruffles, coke - also had one cookie and milk
Dinner: Chicken fajitas with beans, rice and flour tortillas, sprite - had a brownie with ice cream on it much later

Going to Cirque in November

***Text in this color authored by Shena***

Work & Play
I bought some Cirque du Soleil tickets today. Shena and I normally take an anniversary trip in July, even though we were married in December. I am in charge of planning it this year (we alternate who is in charge of planning each year...and we usually make it a surprise what we are doing, too.). But because Shena got an e-mail a couple of days ago saying Cirque was going to be in Charlotte end of October, she informed me that would be our trip this year. Not much of a surprise for her. I will have to come up with another way or something else to do on the trip that will be a surprise for her. Anyway, I screwed up in buying the tickets. She mentioned it to Dede, and she expressed some interest in going with us. Shena told me that, but it didn't sound very definite to me. So I thought I would be cool and surprise her a little bit and go ahead and buy the tickets today so that she would know we were going for sure and so that we could for sure have good seats. Well, I only bought two tickets and didn't consult with Shena. She wasn't very happy with me...even though she pretended not to be upset. She said that Dede was more serious about going than I thought. She called Dede and told her what night we had tickets for (Friday, November 11, 8:00) so that Dede could get her own tickets the same night. Maybe we can still go together, just not sit next to each other. That is what I get for trying I guess.

We had the missionaries over for dinner. Then I went out with them on their appointment they had with a guy named Brandon. Nice guy, very analytical, very intelligent. He served in the Peace Corps for a couple of years so that right there tells you about his good character. The appointment went well. We've got good missionaries here right now, they do a good job teaching.

I didn't get back from being out with the missionaries until about 9:15, but I just HAD to watch "Lost" last night before I went to bed. It was a new episode, and I didn't want to go a whole other day without knowing what was going on. Good episode last night. Such a good, edge of your seat show. I'm glad we started to watch it from the beginning. Still not watching it? You're missing out. Maybe the first season will be on DVD in the fall and you can catch up then.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
Cade came into our room at 7:00 this morning..."Dad, can I play Incredibles?" Not "good morning" or "I'm hungry"...Incredibles is all he wanted. He wound up only getting to play for a few minutes, but I thought it was funny that was the first thing he wanted to do. Maybe funny isn't the word for it. It bothers me that he wants to do that so much. Scares me, even. I wish our backyard was grassed in so that he could spend some time out there instead...I can't really make him go outside right now...no place for him to go.

Kelson was throwing stuff at the missionaries last night while they were trying to share a "spiritual thought" with us. One or two things are ok...but that kid just doesn't listen...and it's never good to beat your kids senseless in front of company, so we just kept telling him "no". He actually hit one of the missionaries in the nose with a mini-basketball. That got me upset and he had to go and sit on the mat (it's hard to be spiritual when your two year old is screaming from down the hall). After he came out I told him to tell the missionary he was sorry...Kelson hugged his legs instead. Pretty cute...if it wasn't so embarassing that he was throwing stuff at them.

Arellano Update
Talked to mom for a minute today. She was on her way to pick up Lettie at the airport. I didn't realize that Lettie was even going to San Diego, but of course I'm usually the last person to know these kinds of things. I asked mom if they had anything planned. She gave me some vague answer like "oh yes, of course Melissa, Lettie and I have planned several things." She didn't give up any details so I guess she doesn't want anybody to know about what these big plans are. Maybe she was afraid I'd tip my dad off about them.

Christensen Update
Forgot to mention that I talked to Sky a couple of days ago. He is getting close to finishing school, which I know he is excited about. I miss hanging out with Sky and Kyle. We have a good time when we do. I should do a better job of calling both of them every now and then.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 11:30 - 7:00 - I've decided that if I can't get myself to sleep before 11:30, I will probably never get up at 6:30 every morning. I'm not sure how to do it, though. 11:30 seems to be the earliest I can get to bed. Somethings got to give because I have GOT to start getting up at 6:30.

TODAY:
Breakfast: none

Lunch: corn tortillas and beans with cheese, water - had a single scoop of Rocky Road ice cream (it was the only kind of "dessert" we had around the house...and I needed something sweet).

Dinner: Shena's beef BBQ sandwiches, Ruffles (with ridges), tuna pasta salad, CLEAR kool-aid (did you get that? I said "CLEAR." Weirdest thing I've even drunk (or is it dranken?). Looks just like water, tastes just like kool-aid. I wasn't going to have any, but I just had to try it. It was actually pretty good once you got past the way it looked.) We had brownies with vanilla ice cream and caramel and chocolate syrup on top. Good stuff...and I was completely stuffed by the time dinner was over.

Il Positano

***Text in this color authored by Shena***

Work & Play
Just the usual at work. I really can't give as much detail about what I do at work (not nearly as much detail as Adam gives in his blog), and it should be pretty obvious why. I wish there were some kind of politics that went on in the office, but none of it affects me directly, and I don't get into it too much, so no dirty laundry here.

After work, we met the Plummer's at Il Positano (or something like that), an Italian restaurant in the Target shopping center on Lawndale. We've been there at least one other time with mom and dad. The food is ok, but I actually prefer the Olive Garden. I know there are purists out there who would string me up for saying that, but the truth hurts sometimes. We had similar seating arrangements as at Mexico the other night. We actually only went out to eat because some restaurants in town were donating 10% of their revenue for the day to the Greensboro Urban Ministry. We usually go out with mom and dad each year, but since they are in San Diego it is kind of hard to go out with them. Ed and I sat with two kids in one booth, while the girls sat in another booth. You could tell that Ed and I had just come from work because we were both pretty mellow and quiet compared to how we normally are on the weekends. You know how us mormons get on the weekends...wild cand crazy.

Watched the Amazing Race, of course, last night. We are defintely rooting for Uchena and Joyce. They are nice people to the other contestants, and get along really well. Rob and Amber are still in it, unfortunately. The couple that got put out last night really should have been gone a long time ago. Luck has kept them in it. They have been overmatched since about 1/2 way through the race.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
Cade has been bugging us for a while to rent "The Incredibles" Playsation 2 game. We rented it several weeks ago, and the last couple of days he's really been bugging to get it. So we told him he had to be good for two days, which he has been. He's been very nice and polite and the whole bit. Even at dinner tonight, he was being a good kid (he usually has a hard time in restaurants). After dinner, Shena went over to the Yow's to talk to Kristi and Carolyn about wedding plans. Shena volunteered to help, so she was there to get instructions on what they wanted her to do. Sounds like she will be doing some flower arrangements for them. The boys and I stopped by the video store to rent the game for Cade. Bad news is we gave in to him and got him what he wanted, good news is now we have something that he really wants that we can take away from him if he is bad...and we can definitely threaten to take it away if he is cutting up.

Cade also told Shena tolday that he didn't want to learn Spanish. They were driving past the school he WOULD be going to if he hadn't gotten in to Jones, and he said he wanted to go to school there. Shena and I talked about it and decided that he will have to go to Jones for at least one semester and then we will evaluate from there. That was kind of the plan anyway. It just makes me wonder just how much choice a five year old should get, you know? I hate to be the kind of person who is completely controlling of their kids and doesn't let them make any choices, but I also don't want to be the kind of person who does everything that their kids tell them to. It seems like such a fine line between having your kids hate you because of all the things you "make" them do and having them be spoiled brats who control you by making you feel guilty and getting everything they want. Let me know if you see me going to far one way or the other.

Arellano Update
Talked to Adam for a bit about his housing options in Utah. For a full report, go here. Sounds like they have some pretty good options, just hope that it all works out.

Christensen Update
None to report that I know of.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 11:15 - 4:30 & 5:30 - 7:30 - I sure wish I wouldn't wake up in the middle of the night like that...takes me forever to get back to sleep.

TODAY:
Breakfast: none

Lunch: leftover spaghetti casserole and leftover cornbread twists, milk and a few bites of cake.

Dinner: Chicken parmigiana with small serving of spaghetti, bread, garden salad with thousand island dressing. The chicken was ok, but not $14 ok, which is what it cost. Shena had forgotten how expensive the place was when she suggested it. Oh well. No big deal, it was for a good cause.